Pulp Cthulhu

Played 19th October 2012

In Game date 30th September 1935.

Party meet with Profesor Armitage in the Orne Library to go through the notes of the missing Proffesor Ashford in an attempt to start to unravel the mysterious disapearance of the Ashford Expedition in South America.

After spending 4 days going through the professors notes the players learn some interesting clues to the Ashford expedition.

(If someone wants to fill this in with what you learned feed free to fill this bit in.)

After finishing off for the night of the 3rd October 1935 the party leave the library at night only to hear a smash and gun shots from Armitages office. John and Grace give chace to the mysterious asailant and Mimi and Harry go to check on Prof. Armitage. John and Grace chace the attacker to Arkham docks and then they chase them to the cost where the attackers escape with the notes and the tablets to a Tramp Steamer moored offshore.

Meanwhile back at the library Mimi comforts a dieing Prof. Armitage. And questions Armitages new mysterious assistant August.

Played 30/1/2012

Smitty is released from hospital and seems very clingy with us. It seems like his confidence has taken a good knocking. He has not had any parties since which is unusual for him as he usually kicks off a lot of parties and is very active in the other parties on campus. Instead he seems to be spending a lot of time studying. We think he’s finally realised how much work he actually needs to do.

Tuesday 28th September

Grace is sitting in one of Dr. Francis Morgan‘s lectures and is asked by him to stay behind afterwards. Once the lecture is finished he takes her to his office. The rest of us get a message during our own lectures to report to Morgan’s office afterwards. As we walk past Morgan’s old office, we see there is a new name painted on the door: Dr. David Wilson, Assistant Professor of Archaeology. We continue on towards McTavish‘s old office to find Morgan’s name painted on the door and his new title of Head of Archaeological Studies.

The room seems to have been expunged of most traces of McTavish. The smell of pipe smoke is gone and all of his effects have been remove, presumably sent to his widow. Some standard course books that belonged to McTavish remain. The room now has a different style with various Mesoamerican artifacts and articles relating to the region including a large map, small artifacts, photos of stepped pyramids and photographs of various expedition teams. On the desk is a photograph of a woman in her mid to late twenties and beside that is a photograph of MacTavish in a frame which has “Goodbye old friend” written at the bottom. There are still some egyptian artifacts scattered around the room but nowhere near the number that McTavish had. The room itself has a very outdoorsy feeling to it, definitely belonging to a practical archaeologist.

Morgan seems very appreciative of the work we have done revealing a hidden history to the university, most notably in finding the notes in the hidden chamber in the Orne Library. In normal circumstances he would award us collectively with it as a find but he apologetically explains that he would prefer this not be disclosed. When questioned by Mimi as to why he explains that firstly he wants to avoid creating a panic in Arkham, that this has been happening for hundreds of years without anyone noticing. Secondly, he fears that to publically disclose our information would destroy any chance of us stopping what has been happening. He explains that we are dealings with things that we really have no idea about and that he doesn’t want people to know that these kinds of things are real. He admits that while he normally would never agree on such a point, there are some things that Man was not meant to know.

Morgan goes on to explain that he think we have both been tackling the same problem fro opposite directions and would like for us all to pool our resources and work together to stop whatever is going on. He explains that we have one advantage over himself and Professor Armitage in that we can generally miss lectures without arousing suspicion while they may be sacked for doing the same. He offers us a chance to back out and after we refuse he tells us that he can arrange for us to be given exemptions to lessons and for us to be given extra credit for working with himself and Professor Armitage. We all agree that we are not safe and that we will need to see this through to the end.

Michael asks Morgan if he has any ideas where to start. Morgan suggests finding the whatever was mentioned in the notes that is hidden with the rest of Orne’s bequest. There is mention in the notes of some kind of prison and we theorise that since Mason can apport to various different locations that the prison is not any kind of physical prison but is more likely to be some form of magical artifact.

After some discussion we decide the best place to start looking for Orne’s treasure is the massive carven head on the side of Kingsport Head. We have two options, climbing from the base up or abseiling from the top down. We theorise that there may be a cave system linked to it, but that any other entrance to the system could be miles away and the only definite lead we have is the head. Morgan informs us of a truck path leading most of the way up Kingsport Head. The path has been constructed to ferry materials and personnel to a new radio tower being constructed to be able to communicate with a planned expedition into the Antarctic Interior.

Discussing starting from the base and climbing up we remember there is a narrow causeway leading round and up the side of Kingsport Head. We decide to spend some time with the Climbing Club at the University to gain some advice and information on a no doubt challenging climb. Mimi has major misgivings about climbing to the carven head but is more interested in climbing from the base rather than abseiling down from the top.

Morgan extends an offer to Grace to help examine and catalogue the finds that have just arrived from the Mesa Grande dig.

Michael and John decide to go to Sears and Roebuck’s to order climbing gear, although it will take a week to arrive. Grace goes to check out the finds from the Mesa Grande dig.

To Be Played 10/10/11

Played on 26/09/2011

The year is 1924 and the investigators are now start their Sophmore year at Miskatonic University. A new investigator Henry MacGough joins the goup as the new investigator.

After revelry of Homecoming week the students realise that the head of Saint Ward has gone, who would take the head and what will happen to the students beloved Great Game. Then on Monday 6th July a notice appears on the notice board, it simply reads:

The Game Begins!

St. Ward is gone, lost for all time.
Five clues the are to find.
Follow the trail, glory awaits for the winner.
In the fullness of time St. Ward will be yours.
You hunt begins now, for here is your first clue for free.
“I stand alone, wrapped in legend mist and legend.
What you seek is at my tallest point."

Will the investigators find the head and join those few to have posesed Saint Ward, tune in next week!

This is a brief overview of what happened in year one of Pulp Cthulhu, as I forgot to get any of the players to sign up or to record the events here.

Year one was split into two adventures, one for each semester in the characters freshman year at Miskatonic University. As well as the adventures the characters were also able to learn and observe some of the universities traditions both those steeped in MU’s rich history and the more excentric student created traditions.

Semester 1 began with MU student Frank Charlton found dead on the steps of the Orne Library after apparently throwing himself from the roof. The same night Anna von Diesenburg was attacked by an unknown assailant on her way back to Dorothy Upman Hall just before curfew. Anna a friend of the characters was temporarily held in St. Mary’s Hospital due to her being in a state of catatonic shock. The characters were able to glean from her a description of her assailant, the man she described was Frank Charlton, whom she claimed had no blood when she faught him. They were also able to recover some organic mater from under her nails. The organic mater was found to be human tisue that had undergone some celular necrosis but that it seemed to be preseved by some agent.

After the delayed patholgists report was finally published it stated that Frank Charlton died of sufocation and his wounds sustained from the fall were sustained post mortem. Frank’s room mate Biff Williams was the police’s prime suspect. However after speaking to Biff they discovered a man who although not the perfect room mate to Charlton got along with him amicably. They did discover that Charlton moved in some unusual circles, he was a member of the Bohemians through this they found a link to fellow MU student Claude Owen. Claude had tried to join the Bohemians. Charlton was one of the key players who vicously verbally cut him down and refused his membership, mocking him and wringing every last drop of pleasure from it.

After investigating Claude Owen they found that he was a very solitary student whom even the faculty found slightly disturbing, earning him the nickname of ‘Creapy Claude’. They found that Claude was obsesed with death, his father died when he was 4 his mother when he was 5,
he was brought up by his maternal Grandparents both of whom are now deceased. When they went looking for Claude they found no sign of him on campus his dorm room had not been used in a week. So they searched it and found signs that he was developing a serum to reanimate dead tissue, and it looked like Claude had succeded atleast once with the discovery of the pitiful sight of a vivisected dog still alive pinned to the board. Amongst Claude’s papers they found the smoking gun a rambling diary entry where scrawled in a manic hand telling of his plan to kill Frank Charlton and then reanimated him and to continue the cycle until he was satisfied that justice had been served. Finally they found that not all of the work was of Claude’s own devising he had built upon the work laid down by MU alumni Herbert West, one of MU’s most promising medical graduates who dies in Flanders during The Great War.

After examining Wests Notes left in the stacks, they tracked Owen to a secluded farm house that had once been leased by West. Here the confronted the re-animator and defeated him, at much personal sacrifice. They were aided in this endevor by three university professors: